Valuentum Exclusive Analysis for the Discerning Investor

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Nov 1, 2022

Enterprise Products Partners Reports Strong 3Q, Impressive ~7.5% Distribution Yield
Image Source: Enterprise Products Partners. The Alerian MLP ETF has faced considerable pressure during the past 10 years, generating a paltry annualized return, but shares of many constituents have improved during 2022 as energy resource prices have bounced back. Though we generally shy away from MLPs, more generally, Enterprise Products Partners is one of our favorites given the increased transparency it provides to investors when it comes to cash-flow metrics. Since its IPO, Enterprise Products Partners has raised its distribution 24 years in a row. Shares yield ~7.5% at this time.

Oct 23, 2022

Must Watch: MPT Failures and High Yield Dividend Breakdown Spiral!
Valuentum's President of Investment Research breaks down what went wrong with modern portfolio theory in 2022, and why investors that have been lured into "sucker" yields may have just experienced permanent capital impairment with their retirement savings. A two-part video series.

Jul 7, 2022

2022 Oil & Gas Market Update: “The Outlook for Crude Oil Prices Remains Quite Bullish”
In our view, the outlook for crude oil prices remains quite bullish which in turn should enable Chevron and Exxon Mobil, two of our favorite newsletter portfolio ideas, to churn out “gobs” of free cash flow over the coming quarters. Additionally, both Chevron and Exxon Mobil have substantial exposure to natural gas prices, in part through their enormous LNG export facilities in Australia, which should further support their cash flow generating abilities. We will caution here that a key downside risk the global energy complex faces is potential demand destruction as consumers adjust their lifestyles accordingly to reduce their energy and fuel bills. With that in mind, we have yet to see energy demand falter in a meaningful way, though we are keeping a close eye on the state of the global economy.

Dec 24, 2021

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week December 24
Let's take a look at companies that raised/lowered their dividend this week.

Oct 27, 2020

Energy Transfer’s Dividend Cut Not Enough, Needs to Slash It More
We expect another distribution cut from Energy Transfer in the not-too-distant future. Its traditional free cash flow generation is still too meager to cover its now-reduced distribution level, and the energy markets are simply not cooperating. The energy sector has been among the worst-performing equity sectors for some time now, and investor appetite for new equity and debt issuance is waning as return expectations are ratcheted down in a troubled energy resource environment. We expect more pain to come for Energy Transfer’s stock. Our fair value estimate stands at $4 per share.

Apr 24, 2020

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending April 24
Let's take a look at companies that raised/lowered their dividend this week.

Jan 17, 2020

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending January 17
Let's take a look at companies that raised/lowered their dividend this week.

Dec 20, 2019

Devon Energy Completes High-Grading Process, Free Cash Flows Remain Elusive
Image Shown: An overview of Devon Energy Corporation’s remaining asset base, which consists of upstream oil and gas operations spread across four major unconventional plays in the US. Image Source: Devon Energy Corporation – December 2019 IR Presentation. Times are tough in the oil & gas patch, especially for upstream producers of raw energy resources like Devon Energy Corp. Not only are global oil prices low, which drags down natural gas liquids pricing for products like propane and butane, but North American natural gas supplies are trading at rock-bottom prices as well. Devon Energy has attempted to cope by divesting less economical assets and shifting all of its focus towards its best well locations, a process known as high-grading. Due to the recent strength in WTI, shares of DVN have started to march towards the upper end of our fair value range estimate and currently yield 1.4% as of this writing. Devon Energy is placing a great focus on developing “liquids-rich” plays, which refers to developing well locations with high crude oil and natural gas liquids production mixes.

Nov 13, 2019

Chesapeake Energy’s Pain Indicates Nothing “Safe” About Energy MLP Distributions
Image Source: Valuentum slide deck, December 2015. Valuentum released its bearish case on MLPs in June 2015.  Summary There is nothing "safe" in the stock market, and given the track record of the distributions of pipeline MLPs, there is nothing "safe" about pipeline MLP distributions. The MLP business model continues to be phased out, a trend that we anticipated when we made our bearish call on the group in June 2015. Chesapeake Energy's pain is a yet another reminder of the pipeline MLP group's exposure to energy resource pricing through the health (or rather ill-health) of its customer base. We continue to encourage pipeline operators to disclose free cash flow (cash flow from operations less all gross capital spending) prominently in press releases, alongside other industry-specific metrics. Investors of Chesapeake could get completely wiped out in a Chesapeake bankruptcy, and this could have implications across the pipeline MLP arena.

Aug 7, 2019

Tallgrass Energy’s Growth Runway Shorter Than Expected
Image Source: Tallgrass Energy LP -- IR Presentation. We parted with Tallgrass as we see greater opportunities in other midstream firms and different parts of the high-yield universe, such as Enterprise Products Partners, which have stronger growth runways and assets that better cater to the ever-evolving needs of North America’s oil & gas industry. Recent weakness in TGE indicates the market is losing faith in Tallgrass’ growth trajectory and its future free cash flows.